Method of producing methane



Feb. 12, 1935 A. M. BU-SWELL ET AL METHOD OF PRODUCING METHANE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 9, 1952 Q Q 5 M. 7 6 M Z// O rfz \4 I I Feb. 12, 1935. A. M. BUSWELL ET AL 1 3 METHOD OF PRODUCING METHANE Filed June 9, 1932 ZSheets-Sheet 2 I 67/01/4 ,Eorg/f W M5.

Patented Feb. 12, 1935v UNITED STATES METHOD OF PRODUCING METHANE Arthur M. Buswell, Urbana, and Clair Monmouth, Ill.

Application June 9, 1932, SerialNo. 616,240

14 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of producing methane and more particularly to a controlled bacterial decomposition process for preparing directly combustible gaseous mixtures rich in methane.

It has heretofore been known that various types of bacterial decomposition result in the formation of gaseous products. Sewage sludge, for instance when subjected to bacterial decomposition under proper conditions breaks down to form a combustible gas composed principally of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, the methane being the important combustible constituent. The amount 01 gas that may be produced from this source, however, is at best not greater than 1 cu. ft. per capita per day, or less than 5% of the usual per capita daily consumption of fuel gas.

Various investigations of the sludge composition before and after digestion (OShaughnessy, J. Soc. Chem. Ind. 33, 3R (1914); S. L. Neave with A. M. Buswell, Fate of grease in sludge digestion, Ind. and Eng. Chem. 19, 9, page 1012 (1927); A. M. Buswell, C. E. Symons and E. L. Pearson, Observations on two-stage sludge digestion 1928-29, Sewage Works Journal II, 2 (1930)) indicate that the gas results principally from the decomposition of greases (fats and soaps) and proteins, and possibly cellulose that was originally introduced into the sewage in the form of thin paper manufactured from chemical pulp. Observation of sludge which has been subjected to digestion for three to six months shows the presence of matches, newspaper made from mechanical pulp, and other forms of woody material in an unaltered state. Such observations have led to the conclusion that those forms of crude plant tissue sometimes referred to as ligno-cellulose are resistant to that type of bacterial digestion or fermentation which results in methane formation.

Dibdin (W. J. Dibdin, The Purification of Sewage and Water, Sanitary Pub. Co. Ltd., London, 3rd ed., 1903, page 5) in discussing bacterial action on various substances states: Woody fibre, such as paper pulp and dbris from street paving, is especially refractory and Fowler (G. J. Fowler, J. Ind. Inst. of Sci. 3, 39 (1920)), discussing this reaction, states that cellulose is not attacked when it is in combination with pectin, lignin, etc., which are ent in raw vegetable tissues.

Furthermore, the decomposition of plants which occurs in swamps is a very slow process giving off a small amount of methane and even-' always prestually resulting in the conversion of a large part of the material into peat. The fermentation of straw and the like in manure piles also results in the formation of humus with the evolution of small amounts of gas composed mostly of hydro- 5 gen and carbon dioxide with some methane, the latter probably from fecal matter in the manure.

It is also well known that pure cellulose in the form of filter paper, chemical pulp or half stuff" may be fermented with the production of 10 considerable yields of-various acids, alcohols and ketones together with the formation of small amounts of gas composed mainly of carbon dioxide and hydrogen with irregular and small amounts of methane. 1

In all of these various processes a certain amount of air or oxygen is present or artificially introduced.

The simpler carbohydrates such as glucose, xylose and starch have a strong tendency to form acids rather than methane, even in the absence of air or oxygen. For example Mizuno (French Patent No. 571,967) describes the fermentation of.rice and wheat brans, which contain over 50 per cent starch. After three weeks fermentation, Mizuno states that he obtains a gas containing 30 per cent methane. An experiment of our own shows more definitely the tendency of starch to form acids rather than methane: 30

Experiment 10 grams starch Composition by Vol. 0! gas vol ume 1 to 6th day 1732 cc.

CH4 10.0 Na 3-3 6 to 35th (18 y pH 5.4 40

36 to th day but the use of which has heretofore been regarded as an unsolved problem.

Bradley and Rettger (Leon A. Bradley and Leo F. Rettger, Studies on aerobic bacteria commonly concerned in the decomposition of cellulose, Journal of Bacteriology, XIII, 5, page 321 (1927)) state: "In nature the decomposition of cellulose goes on uncontrolled, and the products formed are immediately acted upon by microorganisms as sources of energy and food. In this way countless tons of decaying vegetable matter so to waste yearly. It might well be said'that cellulose is almost an economic loss. If the biological process of decomposition could be carried on by pure culture methods and under scientific control, it should be possible to redeem the economically important cleavage products and convert them to every day use for man. Such mastery of nature is as yet only a dream, but from an analytical viewpoint it seems entirely possible. Thaysen and Bunker (The Microbiology of Cellulose, Hemicelluloses, Pectin and Gums, by Thaysen and Bunker, Oxford University-Press, page 313, 1927) say: The production of combustible-gases. Though the marsh gas which escapes from the ground in some localities has been used as a combustible gas for domestic purposes for many years, and though numerous investigations have shown that the microbiological decay of vegetable dbris frequently gives rise to the evolution oi. such gases, especially methane and hydrogen, few attempts have so far been made to utilize these reactions for the commercial production of gaseous fuels. Those made have not yet succeeded in establishing this industry, even in localities where vegetable dbris is abundant and coal deficient. This, no doubt, is largely due to the existing imperfect knowledge of the microbiology of hemicelluloses and cellulose, and to the consequent dimculties encountered in attempting to control the breakdown of these substances on a technical scale. There is no prima facie reason to believe that such processes should necessarily be uneconomical. On the contrary, they appear to constitute a fruitful field for future investigations.

We have, however, now found that under proper conditions cellulosic material may be converted by bacterial decomposition quantitatively into a combustible gas mixture containing about 54 per cent methane and that the yield from such material as cornstalks amounts to from 10 to 20 thousand cubic feet of gas per ton of raw material treated. The rate of gas production, according to our process, exceeds a half a cubic foot per cubic foot of fermentation tank volume.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide a process for producing methane from cellulosic material by bacterial decomposition.

It is a further important object of our invention to provide a process for producing directly combustible mixtures of gases rich in methane by a controlled and regulated bacterial action upon waste, raw vegetable material.

Other and further important objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims.

The starting material for our process may be any raw vegetable material having a cellulosic content sufiiciently high to render the process economically practicable. By tent we mean raw vegetable or fibrous tissue, exclusive of fats, proteins, waxes, starches, sugars and ash; that is, that portion of the plant substance which remains after extraction with hot cellulosic conwater and after subtraction of fats, waxes, proteins and ash, as determined by well known methods.

Our invention is not directed to the application of our process to pure cellulose, although that can be used, but to the use of waste or raw vegetable materials in which the cellulose fibres are found in substantially their natural state, encrusted or interspersed with lignin and other cellulosic material, and in which the cellulosic content is the major constituent. In other words, our starting material is that type of plant substance that has heretofore been regarded as particularly resistant to methane fermentation and that has never heretofore to the best of our knowledge, been successfully subjected to a bacterial decomposition action for the production of methane.

The following is a table showing the cellulosic content of representative vegetable materials suitable for use as material in our process:

- lglot (watgi yinsolfiie on as Mam-m protein and [at free basis) Percent by weight Cornstalks 75 to 90. Corn cobs to 90. Straws 80 to 90. Wood, excelsior, etc. 90 to 98. Peanut hulls to 95. Oat hulls so to 90.

We have found that our process is applicable to both endogenous and exogenous types of plants and to various portions of the plant such as stem, leaf, fruit hull, and the like. Among the materials tested and found to give good yields of methane are the following:

Cornstalks Newspaper pulp Corn cobs Excelsior Bagasse, fiber Wood flour Threshing machine Swampweeds, mixed chafi Swamp weeds, pith bear- Citrus pulp waste ing (probably Scirpus Wheat straw or Juncus) Broom cornstalks Cat tail stalks Banana stems Peanut hulls Alfalfa hay Oat hulls Leaves (mixed) Flax straw Maize wood sawdust Flax shives Sewage screenings It is an important requirement of our process that the material used be rather finely subdivided in order to provide for prompt and effective inoculation of an extensive surface area. in contact with the bacterial culture. For this purpose we have found the chopping and shredding accomplished by certain standard types of ensilage cutters sufllcient for' endogenous plants of loose texture. Exogenous plant tissue may be fermented if reduced to the condition of excelsior used for packing or to "wood flour", or mechanical pulp.

The substantial exclusion of oxygen is essential to the success of our process. Theintroduction of air into the fermentation tank when adding the material to be treated is best avoided by a. preliminary or prior soaking of the material in water or in some of the liquor from the tank. This soaking displaces the air which would otherwise be held among the particles and on the surface of the finely divided material. We have found, for example, that 50 per cent of the air in shredded cornstalks is displaced by 30 minutes soaking in cold water. Hot water may be used, or a solution of acid or alkali, or other chemical agent may be employed for the soak process to produce additional softening of the tissue but we have not found this necessary to the success of the process. In fact, we have found that with careful manipulation dry material may be introduced without the introduction of harmful amounts of air.

The exclusion of air or oxygen is further accomplished by the use of a fermentation tank (to be described below) so designed that the fermenting mixture is completely sealed from the air.

The regulation of the ammonia content of the liquor is also an important part of our process. When the ammonia is too low, the'rate of gasification decreases and the amount of volatile fatty acids increases. This is illustrated in the following table:

Eflect of NH4-N concentration on rate of gastflcation of cornstalks (All other variables kept as near constant as possible) Volume of digestion tank 140 cu. ft. Cornstalks fed, lbs. per day (dry) 6 to 10 During an 18-day period (low NH N content) During a 51-day period (N H -N content regulated) Aver- M aiimum Minimum age NH N v p. m. 123. c 23.8 59. 0 Volatile acids as acetic (p. p. m.) 354 228 Gas per day (cu. ft.) 68 24 34. 2

It is advantageous though not necessary to start the process by inoculation with material which is actively undergoing methane fermentation. When organic matter starts to decompose spontaneously under anaerobic conditions a variety of chemical reactions take place but as the process continues the methane producing bacteria gain the ascendency and thereafter the decomposition proceeds with the formation of methane as the characteristic product. When cellulosic material is inoculated with such an active culture the production of methane begins promptly. Convenient sources of active methane fermenting bacteria are sludge from active sewage sludge digestion tanks, liquor from such tanks, and from other locations where organic matter is undergoing active methane fermentation. Good inocula can also be obtained by the inoculation of small amounts of the material and transferring it successively to larger amounts as the fermentation gets under way.

In early experiments it was observed that the fermenting material formed a thick mat at the top of the vessel or tank and that unless this mat is broken up the fermentation is greatly retarded. We found, however, that if the fermentation vessel is arranged with flexible connections or otherwise so that it may be inverted from time to time, the mat was broken up and the fermentation proceeded smoothly and at a rapid rate. The data on the rate of gas evolution from a stationary fermentation flask and one which could be inverted illustrates this point.

Rate of fermentation of cornstallcs (cc. of gas per 10 gms. of dry stalks in 10 days) In Tip-top apparatus 2400 cc. In stationary apparatus 1500 cc.

The inversion also serves to thoroughly mix I fresh material with fermenting material thereby insuring thorough inoculation of the fresh material. It also prevents the accumulation of intermediate products of fermentation in high concentration in any one portion or zone of the culture.

A suitable type of apparatus for carrying out our'process is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on line I-I of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the fermentation tank;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line IIIIII of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view at the intake end of the tank. I

The reference numeral 1 indicates, as a whole, a fermentation tank for carrying out the process of our invention. Said tank 1 is suitably made of concrete to minimize heat losses, but may be made of any other structural material having the desired characteristics. The tank 1 is preferably of rectangular shape and provided with a transversely extending vertical baiiie 2 spaced from one end thereof to divide the tank into two compart ments, a relatively large digestion compartment 3 and a smaller discharge compartment 4.

A cylindrical drum 5 is mounted horizontally within the digestion compartment 3 upon a shaft 6 journalled in bearings 7 and 8 carried by the wall 2 and end wall of the tank. Said drum 5 is adapted to be rotated continuously or intermittently at any suitable speed, as by means of a pulley 9 carried by the outer extended end of a plurality of radially extending supporting arms 10 to which are attachedlongitudinally extending bars 11. The frame is covered with a cylinder 13 of reticular material, such as wire screening 14, or perforated metal or the like. Each end of the cylindrical drum 5 is provided with a circular angle iron 15, which is secured to the bars 11 and which serves to maintain the cylindrical form of the wire covering 14. Said circular angle irons 15- extend outwardly from the respective ends of the drum 5 with their inwardly directed flanges 16 spaced from said drum ends. Circular Z-bars 17 are secured to the adjacent end wall of the tank and battle wall 2, respectively, to extend within and slightly spaced from the circular angle bars 15. Rings 18 are secured to the circular angle irons 15 to form extensions of the inwardly directed flanges 16 so as to extend within the channel provided between the Z-bars 17 and the adjacent tank wall surfaces. The clearance between the rings 18 and the Z-bars 17 is adjusted so as to prevent the escape of material from within the drum into the outer portions of the compartment 3.

The feeding end of the tank is provided with a spout 20 extending through an opening in the tank end wall. as at 21, within the circle formed by the z-bars 1'7. The material to be treated may thus be fed directly into the open end of the drum adjacent said feeding spout 20. A discharge opening 22 is provided in the lower portion of the baflle wall 2 to permit undecomposed material from the drum 5 to pass out into compartment 4. It should be noted that the sealing means provided by the angle irons 15, rings 18 and Z-bars 17 at both ends of the drum 5 prevents material, either during charging or discharging, from working its way out of the drum 5 into the surrounding space in the compartment 3. Material discharged into the compartment 41s withdrawn in any suitable and convenient manner.

In order to provide for the heating of the termentation tank, when necessary, a pipe 23 extends to the bottom of the compartment 4 and is there connected to a loop, or coil of piping 24, through which hot water or steam may be circulated, as desired. We propose under some circumstances to surround the fermentation tank with manure to utilize the heat generated by the action of thermophiliic bacteria, or to use the residue from our fermentation process, which we have noted becomes heated when piled in a moist condition.

A main cover 25 is fitted to the walls of the compartment 3 to form a tight joint therewith above the drum 5. Said cover 25 is provided with one or more gas vents 26 having upstanding side walls 27. Each of the gas vents 26 is provided with a separate gas collecting hood 28 hav-- ing depending side walls 29 extending down around the upstanding side walls 27 of the gas vents and slightly spaced therefrom, A seal is provided between said hoods 28 and gas vents 26 by filling the compartment 3 above the main cover 25 with water to a level as indicated by the dotted lines 30. The water seal thus provided prevents the entrance of air into the digestion compartment where the fermentation takes place and also the escape of gas. The water seal likewise prevents the building up of excessive pressures within the digestion chamber and tends to keep a uniform, slight pressure therein. A pipe 31, connected by means of branch pipes 32 and 33 to the collecting hoods 28, serves to draw the gas out into a suitable reservoir or any device in which the gas may be used or stored.

Operation In operating our apparatus, the tank 1 is first filled with water to substantially the level of the dotted line 34 to displace practically all air therefrom. Water for the water seal is also added above the cover 25 to about the height indicated by the dotted lines 30. In place of water for filling the interiorof the tank 1, sewage may be used, or ammonia may be added in suitable quantitles to the water. Sumcient seeding material is then added to induce active methane. evolution. Fermenting sludge or enriched cultures, such as described above, may be employed as seeding material.

The raw vegetable material in suitably comminuted form is introduced into the drum 5 through the spout 20. This raw vegetable material maybe any of the materials mentioned in the above list or any other waste material having a ceilulosic content of greater than say 50% calculated on a dry basis. The material to be fermented is preferably first soaked in water to expel as much air as'possible from its pores and interstices and for this purpose may be subjected to some mild chemical treatment adapted to soften and loosen the fibrous material. Satisfactory results can be obtained, however, without resorting to any preliminary soaking or chemical treatment.

The introduction of the raw material may be either intermittent or continuous and its rate of introduction will depend upon the rate of gas formation desired. As the fermentation proceeds, the fermenting material collects in the upper portion of the drum 5, revolution of which dislodges the material and releases gas bubbles from the mass. The drum 5 may be either revolved continuously at a slow rate or at any desired intervals. Whether the drum 5 is revolved continuously or merely rotated through a small arc intermittently is not important, but it is important that the drum be moved in some manner to present a free upper surface for the liberation of gases from the drum. The tendency is for the fermenting fibrous material to mat tightly against the screen on the top side of the drum, due to the formation of gas bubbles over the surface of the material, and it would be very diflicult and laborious to manually remove or mechanically scrape off this matted layer. The rotation of the drum very effectively accomplishes the desired result with a minimum amount of power consumption.

The gas rises through the screen of the drum 5 and is caught in the collecting hood 28, from which it passes through the pipes 32 and 33 into the pipe 31. The less active material within the drum 5 is gradually worked toward the discharge opening 22 by the rotary motion of the drum and is discharged through said opening into compartment 4 in a more or less undecomposed state. This undecomposed fibrous material may be removed from the compartment 4 by hand or in any suitable manner.

The necessary concentration of ammonium ion for emcie'nt gasiflcation of the material is maintained by adding a predetermined quantity of a suitable ammonia containing compound, such as a soluble ammonium salt, for example, ammonium chloride. Ammoniacal liquors, such as sewage, stable urine, and the like, are also available as a source of ammonia and any of these may be added in suitable amounts as required to the liquor in the digestion tank.

The table on page 3 illustrates the effect of varying concentration of ammonia in the digestion liquor on the rate of gasiflcation. It will be understood that an excessive ammonium hydroxide content is to be avoided, since the resulting alkalinity would impair and ultimately destroy the activity of the fermenting bacteria. Similarly, an excessive concentration of ammonium salts would so increase the osmotic pressure of the solution as to have a detrimental effect upon the bacteria. In general, the concentration of NH4-N may be increased to as high as 600 p. p. m. with corresponding higher rate of gasification before any ill effects are noted.

It will be understood that although my process has been particularly described in connection with the production of a combustible gas mixture largely composed of methane, it is not essential that methane content run above 50% by volume of the mixture to render the mixture combustible and under certain conditions the percentage of methane in the mixed gases resulting from our process may run under 50%. Furthermore, the mixed gases have a commercial value apart from hightheir use in heating, since the relatively percentage of carbon dioxide makes the separation of carbon dioxide for the manufacture of liquid or frozen CO2 a commercially feasible proposition.

This application is a continuation in part of our copending application, Method of and apparatus for producing methane, Serial No. 481,142, filed September 11, 1930 now Patent No. 1,880,772, which is in turn a continuation in part of our copending application, Celullose digestion", Se-

rial No. 386,080, filed August 15, 1929 now Patent We are aware that many changes may be made and numerous details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and we, therefore, do not purpose limiting the patent granted hereon otherwisethan necessitated by the prior art.

We claim as our invention:

1. The process of preparing directly a combustible mixture of gases composed largely of methane, which comprises subjecting a confined mass of raw vegetable material submerged in a body of water to the action of anaerobic bacteria, agitating said mass, feeding fresh vegetable material to said mass and removing undecomposed material from said mass without the introduction of substantial amounts of air.

2. The process of preparing methane, which comprises subjecting comminuted rawvegetable material to the action of anaerobic bacteria and controlling the ammonia content of the mass undergoing bacterial action by the addition thereto of ammonia containing compounds.

3. A continuous process for preparing directly combustible gases largely composed of methane, which comprises feeding cellulosic material to a confined zone beneath the surface of a body of water, agitating said material in contact with the water and in the presence of methane producing bacteria, removing undecomposed material from its natural state.

said confined zone and continuously collecting the resulting gases with substantial exclusion of air, said cellulosic material being combined in substantially its natural state.

4. A continuous process for preparing directly combustible gases largely composed of methane, which comprises feeding waste vegetable material in a comminuted state and having a cellulosic content greater than 50% to a confined zone, there subjecting said material to the action of methane producing bacteria, agitating said material during the continuance of said bacterial action thereon, removing from said zone undecomposed material and continuously collecting the resulting gases with exclusion of air, said cellulosic content being combined in substantially 5. The process of preparing a gas containing at least 50% of methane, which comprises sub- .iecting cornstalks to a fermentative action under substantially anaerobic conditions and collecting the gaseous products of the fermentative action.

6. The process of preparing a gas containing at least 50% of methane, which comprises feeding comminuted cornstalks to a confined zone beneath the surface of a body of water, agitating said cornstalks in contact with the. water and in the presence of methane producing bacteria, removing undecomposed cornstalk material from said confined zone and collecting the gaseous products of decomposition with exclusion of air. 7. A continuous process for preparing directly combustible gases rich in methane, which comprises feeding finely divided cornstalks to a confined zone submerged in a body of water, there subjecting the cornstalks to the action of methane producing bacteria, maintaining a sufficient ammonium ion concentration to facilitate the action of said bacteria, removing undecomposed cornstalk material from said zone and continuously collecting the gaseous products of bacterial decomposition with substantial exclusion of air.

8. The process of preparing a gas containing at least 50% of methane, which comprises continuously exposing a large interrupted surface area of raw vegetable material having more than 50% cellulosic content to bacterial decomposition under anaerobic conditions, maintaining a sufficient ammonia content in the mass of material to insure a relatively rapid rate of gasification, removing undecomposed material and collecting the gaseous products.

9. The process of preparing a gas containing at least 50% of methane, which comprises feeding sewage screenings toa confined zone beneath the surface of a body of water, agitating said sewage screenings in contact with the water and in the presence of methane producing bacteria, removing undecomp'osed material from said confined zone and collecting the gaseous products of decomposition with substantial exclusion of air.

10. A continuous process for directly preparing combustible gases rich in methane, which comprises feeding finely divided sewage screenings to a confined zone submerged in a body ofwater, there subjecting the sewage screenings to the action of methane producing bacteria, maintaining a sufi'icient ammonium ion concentration to facilitate the action of said bacteria, removing undecomposed material from said zone and continuously collecting the gaseous products of bacterial decomposition with substantial exclusion of air.

11. In a process for producing an inflammable gas composed largely of methane by the bacterial decomposition of raw vegetable material high in cellulosic content, the step of adding an. ammonia containing substance in sufiicient quantity to increase the amount of ammonia in the solution to between 23.8 and 600 parts per million. I

12. The process for preparing methane which comprises subjecting comminuted raw vegetable material to the action of anaerobic bacteria and controlling the ammonia content of the mass by the addition of sufiicient ammonia containing compounds to keep the ammonia mass above 23.8 parts per million.

' 13. In a process for producing mixed gases containing methane, the step of subjecting finely. divided cellulosic material to an anaerobic and fermentative action, maintaining said material beneath the surface of a liquid containing between content of said 23.8 and 600 parts per million of ammonia, agi- 

